Read Taxation is Robbery, Part 1. [From Out of Step: The Autobiography of an Individualist, by Frank Chodorov; The Devin-Adair Company, New York, 1962, pp. 216-239.] A basic immorality becomes the center of a vortex of immoralities. When the State invades the right of the individual to the products of his labors it appropriates an authority which is contrary to the nature of things and therefore establishes an unethical pattern of behavior, for itself and those upon whom its authority is exerted. Thus, the income tax has made the State a partner in the proceeds of crime; the law cannot...
Taxation is Robbery, Part 1
[From Out of Step: The Autobiography of an Individualist, by Frank Chodorov; The Devin-Adair Company, New York, 1962, pp. 216-239.] The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines taxation as “that part of the revenues of a state which is obtained by the compulsory dues and charges upon its subjects.” That is about as concise and accurate as a definition can be; it leaves no room for argument as to what taxation is. In that statement of fact the word “compulsory” looms large, simply because of its ethical content. The quick reaction is to question the “right” of the State to this use of power. What...
When War Comes
A recent citizen of Austria said to me: "I am a Georgist. I believe in free trade. But I disagree with your statement that free trade would prevent Germany from going to war. I have lived with Germans, and I tell you these people are different from other people. They are inherently different. They don't understand or want freedom. Their nature is to be both subservient and dominating. They crave war." He had suffered from Nazi terrorism so much that he completely forgot the Germany that was Schiller and Heine and Leasing and Goethe. The brutishness which as a Georgist he should know is the...
The Income Tax: Root of all Evil
The Income Tax:Root of all Evil by Frank Chodorov [Originally published by The Devin-Adair Company, New York, 1954] To the Memory of Albert Jay Nock Argument Tradition has a way of hanging on even after it is, for all practical purposes, dead. We in this country still use individualistic terms—as, for instance, the rights of man—when, as a matter of fact, we think and behave in the framework of collectivistic doctrine. We support and advocate such practices as farm-support prices, social security, government housing, socialized medicine, conscription, and all sorts of ideas that stem from...